ICMCTF2015 Session G2-1: Advances in Deposition Eqiuipment and Processes

Indexable inserts represent about 60% of the worldwide cutting tool market. PVD coatings dominate the insert market for milling and threading applications.

This paper will discuss how HiPIMS coating equipment raises insert coatings to the next level with regard to coating adhesion, film thickness distribution and morphology of the deposited material. Special focus will be given to integrating and fine tuning the preparation of the cutting edge and the surface of the inserts prior to the deposition with the HiPIMS process.

Key to using HiPIMS for industrial cutting tools is an equipment design that delivers the pulse energy directly into the plasma. Process data show how the door assembly machine design which avoids any cable between the HiPIMS unit and the cathode gives the system’s user the full control of the various parameters of the HiPIMS discharge.

Field data illustrate how this integrated approach unleashes the full performance of the HiPIMS technology for cutting tools.

The most widely used aerospace and defense coatings have have remained unchanged for many years, in large part because the coatings that we use work reasonably well, but also because of the high cost and complexity of making changes. However, the coatings used in aerospace and defense coatings are now changing quite rapidly, driven by a combination of new structural materials, the need for improved performance, and regulatory requirements to reduce or eliminate toxic materials. The speed of these changes is in turn requiring more efficient ways of testing, qualifying and moving them into production, including computational design and analysis.

We will discuss the various drivers for coating replacement, the choices that users are making, and the technology gaps. We will discuss the broad range of aerospace and defense coatings, where vacuum coatings fit in this market, and what drives their adoption or rejection. We will also discuss how the development and qualification of new materials is being affected by advances in fundamental understanding and computational methods. All of this may be opening up new markets for greatly improved coating methods, but their acceptance requires a great deal more than simply newer, better technology. We will therefore also discuss what it takes to get these new technologies into use and where potential applications might be.

Among the deposition process for DLC(diamond like carbon), cathodic arc process has become a popular process and has been used especially for depositing ta-C films on many kinds of automotive components. But in the arc discharge of carbon target, arc spot movement is slower than other metal targets and the discharge is not even on the target surface. So the production scale equipment has still problem about the stability of carbon arc source.

To improve this problem, new arc source for carbon discharge was developed. The feature of this new source are rod type carbon target with strong magnetic field and automatic feed mechanism of target. This new source showed the stable arc discharge on the whole area of target evenly because of faster movement of arc spot and longtime operation was confirmed using feed mechanism of target.

As an application of this carbon arc source, the properties of DLC coating using this source were examined at several coating conditions and the synthesis of ta-C film with the hardness up to 90GPa and smoother surface was confirmed.

A new type of planar magnetron in which the target is coupled with a magnetized hollow cathode is presented. Detailed principles of such arrangements are explained. The hollow cathode activated magnetron produces intense and stable plasmas in a wider interval of the working gas pressures as compared to the conventional magnetrons at the same power. The close activation enhances sputtering of the magnetron target by high-density hollow cathode plasma and increases the number of sputtered/evaporated species. Results of the first test experiments of this arrangement on a commercial planar magnetron with Ti target are presented and its capabilities are discussed.